‘Devoted’ parents of 7-year-old twins killed after street racer crashes, CA suit says
Family members of two parents who were killed in a crash in 2022 while their 7-year-old twins were in the car have sued two drivers accused of street racing before the crash.
Gregory Ammen, 44, and Grace Spiridon, 42, were killed on Nov. 4, 2022, as they drove home from a family dinner with Spiridon’s mother in Palo Alto, according to the lawsuit, filed in San Mateo County on June 6. Their twin daughters were in the backseat at the time.
As the family’s Chevrolet Bolt made a left turn onto a street in Redwood City at around 8 p.m., a 17-year-old going over 100 mph in a Mercedes Benz ”hammered” the family’s vehicle, the lawsuit says.
The Chevrolet was shoved more than 100 feet due to the impact of the crash, the lawsuit says. Both parents had head injuries, Spiridon also suffering a severed spinal cord. Both died at the scene, the lawsuit says.
The twins, who are now 8 years old, were injured but survived.
Investigators later found that the driver of the Mercedes Benz had been street racing with another driver operating a BMW, identified as Kyle Harrison, the lawsuit says.
McClatchy News is not naming the driver of the Mercedes Benz because he was underage at the time of the crash. A spokesperson for the Redwood City Police Department did not respond to a question about whether he was being charged as an adult.
Harrison’s attorney declined to comment.
The 17-year-old driver and Harrison, 23, were waiting at a red light, and, when it turned green, accelerated their vehicles to between 80 and 100 mph, the lawsuit says.
After the Mercedes Benz crashed into Ammen and Spiridon’s vehicle, Harrison sped away from the scene, the lawsuit says.
Both Harrison and the 17-year-old were charged with two counts of second-degree murder, according to a 2022 news release from the Redwood City Police Department.
‘Devoted, loving parents’
Ammen and Spiridon “had a beautiful marriage and lovingly parented” their daughters, the lawsuit says.
The couple, who family members and friends “affectionately” called “The G’s” or “The G-Unit,” met in high school but did not date until they met again in 2004 at a Giants game, the lawsuit says.
They got married in 2009 and had their twin daughters in 2015.
Ammen worked as a sound engineer at Dolby Laboratories, a software company based in San Francisco, according to the lawsuit. He was “enthusiastic, outgoing” and had a “life-long love of music.”
Spiridon was a head of new service introduction at Google, the lawsuit says. She had a “curious mind and resilient spirit” and was known for her positive energy.
Both served as room parents in their daughters’ second-grade classrooms, according to the lawsuit. They “baked together, cheered at the girls’ soccer games and enjoyed the outdoors.”
Niall McCarthy, an attorney representing the family, did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
‘Wrongful death’
Both Harrison and the 17-year-old driver failed to drive within the speed limit and drove in a way that endangered many other cars, pedestrians and bicyclists who were on the road at the time of the crash, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also names the 17-year-old driver’s parents as defendants and says they “negligently permitted” him to drive their Mercedes Benz despite the fact that he had an alleged “dangerous proclivity for speeding and/or racing cars,” the lawsuit says.
An attorney representing the 17-year-old and his family did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News. A person who answered the phone at his office said she “did not have any information.”
Harrison, the 17-year-old driver and the 17-year-old driver’s parents are liable for Ammen and Spiridon’s wrongful death, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages, including for past and future expenses and attorneys’ fees.
Redwood City is about 25 miles south of San Francisco.
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